Trump's populism is dying
Jennifer Rubin
The Washington Post
With a lot of pretentious talk about the "deconstruction of the administrative state" and political fantasies (tariffs that don't provoke retaliation, for example), Steve Bannon and President Donald Trump hoped to transform the GOP into an ethno-nationalist, pro-Russia party akin to the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the National Front in France and the Netherlands' Party for Freedom (headed by Geert Wilders). We will see how the European counterparts do in elections throughout the year, but so far the Trumpist GOP and its hodgepodge of ill-conceived ideas gleaned from Fox News (with its obsession over illegal immigration for which it provides oodles of incorrect data) have fallen flat.
Central to Trump's campaign was his vilification of illegal immigrants and promises to deport millions and force Mexico to build the wall. It turns out those ideas are very unpopular. Besides, Mexico isn't paying for the wall and Trump's executive order accesses only a minuscule amount of leftover Department of Homeland Security funding.
Congress is unlikely to fund the boondoggle while slashing areas of the budget that actually do provide protection. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the idea in a floor speech on Wednesday: "When it comes to keeping us safe, President Trump should not pay for the wall by cutting security at our nation's airports, train stations and ports. President Trump's incompetence would be laughable, except it's dangerous. Every expert says the wall will do nothing to make us more secure, but the potential cuts at our nation's ports would be dangerous." Republicans are saying the idea is "nonsensical" (or "makes no sense"
. Twenty Democrats and three Republicans penned a letter deploring the proposed cuts. Trading real security for a useless wall seems to epitomize Trump's irrational budget choices designed to please his ill-informed base rather than protect the country ...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-trump-populism-america-first-20170309-story.html
